Fairly diverse
The positive influence of female college students on their male peers
Andrew Hill
Labour Economics, January 2017, Pages 151-160
Abstract:
Female college students improve the academic outcomes of their male peers. Using within-college across-cohort variation in freshman enrollment at US colleges, a one standard deviation increase in the proportion of females in a freshman cohort is associated with a half percentage point increase in graduation rates for males in that cohort, while there is no effect for females. Effects are more evident in colleges where student interactions are likely more intense - colleges with higher shares of students living on campus, in college housing, and without cars - suggesting that effects operate through changes in the college learning environment.
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David Yeager et al.
Child Development, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research tested a social-developmental process model of trust discernment. From sixth to eighth grade, White and African American students were surveyed twice yearly (ages 11-14; Study 1, N = 277). African American students were more aware of racial bias in school disciplinary decisions, and as this awareness grew it predicted a loss of trust in school, leading to a large trust gap in seventh grade. Loss of trust by spring of seventh grade predicted African Americans' subsequent discipline infractions and 4-year college enrollment. Causality was confirmed with a trust-restoring "wise feedback" treatment delivered in spring of seventh grade that improved African Americans' eighth-grade discipline and college outcomes. Correlational findings were replicated with Latino and White students (ages 11-14; Study 2, N = 206).
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Spillover bias in diversity judgment
David Daniels, Margaret Neale & Lindred Greer
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, March 2017, Pages 92-105
Abstract:
Diversity research has long assumed that individuals' perceptions of diversity are accurate, consistent with normative theories of judgments in economics and decision theory. We challenge this assumption. In six experiments, we show that when there is more diversity along one dimension (e.g., race, clothing color), people also perceive more diversity on other dimensions (e.g., gender, skill) even when this cannot reflect reality. This spillover bias in diversity judgment leads to predictable errors in decision making with economic incentives for accuracy, and it alters support for affirmative action policies in organizations. Spillover bias in diversity judgment may help explain why managerial decisions about groups often appear to be suboptimal and why diversity scholars have found inconsistent associations between objective diversity and team outcomes.
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Expectations, Education, and Opportunity
Jason DeBacker & Wesley Routon
Journal of Economic Psychology, April 2017, Pages 29-44
Abstract:
Using a long panel of youths, we establish a causal link between parental expectations regarding education and educational attainment. In particular, we use an instrumental variables approach to find that the child's chances of obtaining a high school or college degree are increasing in the parent's expectations of the likelihood of these events. We then use differences between the objective likelihood of a child's educational attainment and the parents' subjective probabilities to consider the hypothesis that lower educational outcomes among certain groups are driven by a "culture of despair," where children are low-achieving because they are expected to underachieve. While we do find that children from households with lower levels of income, wealth, and parental education are less likely to attain high school and college degrees, we reject the hypothesis that this is driven by low subjective expectations of educational success. Rather, we find that parents from disadvantaged groups have expectations for the educational outcomes of their children that differ more from the statistical likelihood of these outcomes than do parents of children from advantaged households. That is, we find that parents in more disadvantaged households are more optimistic about the educational outcomes of their children than those from more advantaged households.
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Sungjoo Choi
Review of Public Personnel Administration, March 2017, Pages 84-107
Abstract:
The structural approaches of workforce diversity note that the racial composition of work groups may affect work attitudes of racial/ethnic minority and White employees in different ways. Analyzing the data from the federal workforce, this study examines how the racial mixture of the agency affects job satisfaction of racial/ethnic minority and White employees. To do so, three models for all employees, Whites, and racial/ethnic minorities were tested using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions with agency-fixed effects. The results suggest that holding a minority status in their agency may bring lower job satisfaction to both racial/ethnic minority and White employees. Racial/ethnic minorities reported the lowest job satisfaction in predominantly White settings, while Whites expressed the lowest job satisfaction in minority-majority settings. In contrast, racial/ethnic minorities reported the highest job satisfaction when they hold a majority status in their agency (minority-majority settings). Interestingly, Whites seem to be most satisfied in White-majorities settings, which are less homogeneous than predominantly White settings. The finding for all employees showed that federal employees stated higher satisfaction in White-majorities settings than in others.
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Teacher Racial Composition and Exclusion Rates Among Black or African American Students
Dorothy Cheng
University of Wisconsin Working Paper, January 2017
Abstract:
Expulsion and suspension rates among African American students are the highest of all racial groups across elementary, middle, and high schools. This study investigates whether a more racially diverse teaching force could alleviate exclusion rates among black students. Using administrative data from the universe of K-12 public schools in the state of Wisconsin from 2002-03 to 2012-13 and employing a school fixed effects approach, results suggest that increasing the representation of black teachers by even a single percentage point is associated with lower suspension rates among black students at the high school level. Across levels of schooling, exclusion rates of white students are unrelated to teacher racial composition.
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Madeline Brown et al.
Dartmouth College Working Paper, February 2017
Abstract:
The issue of diversity - in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status - on university campuses is now highly politicized in the United States. Remarkably little research, however, has attempted to identify students' preferences for prioritizing diversity. To address this problem, we apply the method of fully randomized conjoint analysis recently developed and applied by political scientists to measure multidimensional preferences for politicians, policies, and issues. Specifically, using campus-wide surveys of undergraduate students at Dartmouth College, one of the universities frequently in the news on diversity-related protests and conflicts, we show broad support among undergraduate students for prioritizing diversity in faculty recruitment and undergraduate admissions. The estimated preferences for diversity vary across groups but, contrary to what some recent media coverage suggests, we find no evidence of polarization in opinions among students with regard to preferences for diversity in faculty recruitment and undergraduate admissions.
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Tristan Botelho & Mabel Abraham
Administrative Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite lab-based evidence supporting the argument that double standards - by which one group is unfairly held to stricter standards than another - explain observed gender differences in evaluations, it remains unclear whether double standards also affect evaluations in organization and market contexts, where competitive pressures create a disincentive to discriminate. Using data from a field study of investment professionals sharing recommendations on an online platform, and drawing on status theory, we identify the conditions under which double standards in multistage evaluations contribute to unequal outcomes for men and women. We find that double standards disadvantaging women are most likely when evaluators face heightened search costs related to the number of candidates being compared or higher levels of uncertainty stemming from variation in the amount of pertinent information available. We rule out that systematic gender differences in the actions or characteristics of the investment professionals being evaluated are driving these results. By more carefully isolating the role of this status-based mechanism of discrimination for perpetuating gender inequality, this study identifies not only whether but also the conditions under which gender-based double standards lead to a female disadvantage, even when relevant and objective information about performance is readily available.
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Implicit Black identification and stereotype threat among African American students
Thomas Craemer & Byron D'Andra Orey
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study detects statistically significant and substantively large stereotype threat effects that would remain hidden if Black identification were measured only explicitly. Three hundred and fifty-one students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were tested on an implicit Black identification measure in an online survey, and stereotype threat was manipulated beforehand by randomly presenting one of three introductory screens: an all-White research team (high-threat condition), an all-Black research team (low-threat condition), or no team picture (control condition). The implicit Black identification measure predicted pro-Black political opinions (regarding affirmative action and government aid to Blacks, slavery reparations, and the Racial Resentment Scale), high performance on a political knowledge test, and high self-reported political participation. However, under the high-threat condition, Black students with the highest implicit Black identification scores answered 25% fewer political knowledge questions correctly, and reported 25% fewer acts of political participation, compared with students operating under the low-threat conditions.
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Dialectical Thinking and Fairness-Based Perspectives of Affirmative Action
Ivona Hideg & Lance Ferris
Journal of Applied Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Affirmative action (AA) policies are among the most effective means for enhancing diversity and equality in the workplace, yet are also often viewed with scorn by the wider public. Fairness-based explanations for this scorn suggest AA policies provide preferential treatment to minorities, violating procedural fairness principles of consistent treatment. In other words, to promote equality in the workplace, effective AA policies promote inequality when selecting employees, and the broader public perceives this to be procedurally unfair. Given this inconsistency underlies negative reactions to AA policies, we argue that better preparing individuals to deal with inconsistencies can mitigate negative reactions to AA policies. Integrating theories from the fairness and cognitive styles literature, we demonstrate across 4 studies how dialectical thinking - a cognitive style associated with accepting inconsistencies in one's environment - increases support for AA policies via procedural fairness perceptions. Specifically, we found support for our propositions across a variety of AA policy types (i.e., strong and weak preference policies) and when conceptualizing dialectical thinking either as an individual difference or as a state that can be primed - including being primed by the framing of the AA policy itself. We discuss theoretical contributions and insights for policy-making at government and organizational levels.